Kentucky district chooses GuideK12's analytics software

With the potential of adding as many as 200-300 students per year and discussion about moving 6th graders to the middle school due to an increase in pre-school enrollment, Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) in Bowling Green, Kentucky saw a need to change district alignments to effectively accommodate the rise in schools’ student populations. After extensive research, WCPS determined that the geovisual analytics software, GuideK12, would best assist them with the district realignment.

Their plan is to realign and redistribute the grade levels at all the district’s middle schools to include the sixth grade. The GuideK12 platform gives the administrators the ability to make data driven decisions expeditiously. With an importance placed upon capacity and demographics impact, the Student Services department was able to visualize all corresponding statistics to make the most informed decisions for the betterment of their student bodies.

“We looked at many tools, but were impressed by GuideK12’s ease of use and the fact that it is a web- based platform. Two years ago we created boundaries for a new building. I wish we had GuideK12 at that time,” said Pat Stewart, Director of Student Services. “With GuideK12, I can select an area on the district map to create various scenarios in seconds. In the past, we hand drew maps and it took hours to accurately count the kids on each street. With GuideK12 I have a picture of the area and the impact of each proposal instantly.”

One of the more unique abilities of the GuideK12 analytical software is the ability to layer several data sets over one another, creating a richer and more detailed picture to help in the decision making process. The district was even able to add layers showing railroad tracks and the river – both of which flow directly throughout the entire school district and county – allowing administrators the capability to keep student safety a number one priority by being aware of local roadways.

“I can now take the elementary boundaries and layer them over the top of the middle and high school boundaries,” continued Stewart, “to better understand the transportation dynamics of the school feeder patterns.”

Geovisual analytics is new software technology that visualizes student and county data on an interactive map so it is easily actionable. Districts experiencing changes need tools to support data driven planning. GuideK12 helps a district make more proactive, effective and accurate decisions around school choice, boundary changes, resource planning, emergency preparedness and student performance.

“We know the team at Warren County Public Schools has much broader plans for all the applications within the district using GuideK12,” said Chuck Amos, CEO of GuideK12. “And we are thrilled to continue to work with them to achieve their goals.”

Based in MN, GuideK12LLC is a geovisual analytics software company. By visualizing information spatially, decisions on everything from boundary analysis, to policy changes to resource planning and forecasting enrollments can be faster and more effective. GuideK12 has been the proud recipient of many industry leading awards: Selected as a 2013 finalist for SIIA’s education CODiE awards for Best K-12 Enterprise solution; NSBA Innovative Showcase Company ( 1 of 6); EdTech Digest “Cool Tool”

Winner for Best District Data Solution; and one of the Top Products of 2012 by DA Magazine. GuideK12 serves large metro, suburban and rural school districts throughout the United Sates. It is owned by private investors and a private investment group based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more about GuideK12, please visit: www.guidek12.com.